Nicholson: A Biography by Marc Eliot (PDF)

Description

The definitive biography of a man with one of the most iconic and fascinating careers—and lives—in Hollywood. For six decades, Jack Nicholson has been part of film history. With three Oscar wins and twelve nominations to his credit and legendary roles in films like Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, Terms of Endearment, The Shining, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Nicholson created original, memorable characters like no other actor of his generation. And his offscreen life has been no less of an adventure—Nicholson has always been at the center of the Hollywood elite and has courted some of the most famous and beautiful women in the world. Relying on years of extensive research and interviews with insiders who know Nicholson best, acclaimed biographer Marc Eliot sheds light on Nicholson’s life on and off the screen. From Nicholson’s working class childhood in New Jersey, where family secrets threatened to tear his family apart, to raucous nights on the town with Warren Beatty and tumultuous relationships with starlets like Michelle Phillips, Anjelica Huston, and Lara Flynn Boyle, to movie sets working with such legendary directors and costars as Dennis Hopper, Stanley Kubrick, and Meryl Streep, Eliot paints a sweeping picture of the breadth of Nicholson’s decades-long career in film and an intimate portrait of the real man. Both a comprehensive tribute to a film legend and an entertaining look at a truly remarkable life, Nicholson is a compulsively readable biography of an iconic Hollywood star.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐The book is well written and well researched by Marc Eliot. Jack Nicholson started out “small” like a lot of screen artists. He left his New Jersey home town of Neptune while in his early 20’s and headed west to California. He took on odd jobs and one in particular at Disney’s animation department.He met some big wheels and began his career starring in independent films that made no money. He was also a screen writer and director before he decided to be an actor. He was a character who drew people to him by his bright smile and intellect.He was befriended by Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda who offered him the part of Hanson who gets murdered in the film, Easy Rider.He starred in some memorable films and some forgettable ones. During his career he discovered his origins and had a difficult time accepting that his “sister” June was really his mother and his “mother”was his grandmother. He never accepted his real father and didn’t dwell on the specifics although it upset him terribly.The turning point in his movie career was when he accepted the role of “crazy” McMurphy in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey.Finally , the elusive Oscar for Best Actor was his for his performance. He loved drugs, women and acting.He dropped a lot of LSD, smoked marijuana and snorted cocaine. He acted under the influence of the drugs during his career.He married Sandra Knight and produced a daughter, Jennifer. He fathered four children with different women. He finally had some semblance of a relationship with Angelica Huston daughter of the director John Huston over a period of 17 years.As he became wealthy he bought various real estate and homes all over. He had purchased a house near his idol Marlon Brando who starred with him in the Missouri Breaks. Jack wanted to be the next Brando whom he worshipped in ON The Waterfront and The Wild One. He loves basketball and you can usually see him in the bleachers at an L.A.Lakers game on T.V. He didn’t miss many games.He won several Oscars and other distinguished awards. He is a prolific actor who starred in numerous movies some big box office and some not. After Marlon Brando died, Jack bought his house so that “no one else would move into it and evict the memory of the spirit” of his legendary neighbor. Jack remains the richest actor in Hollywood having made the best moves in the business and has an art collection worth over 100 million dollars. He said,” the toughest part of growing old is losing your friends”. Jack’s fans will love the book as I did.

⭐For Eliot, this quote from Nicholson seems to encapsulate the demons that pursue him through an otherwise storybook life. For most of his life, Jack was not told the fact that the woman he regarded as his sister was in fact his mother. The vague unease of suspicion, and the failure of his family to protect him from the lewdness in his teen age work settings had seeded a twisted view of women in Jack’s mind. That combined with early exposure to drugs set a pattern of promiscuity and drug abuse.While Eliot often cites and explores the deep talent that Nicholson has shown throughout his career, he doesn’t seem to like him much. As has been noted, some obvious mistakes in fact checking occur. He also harps incessantly on Jack’s hair loss, sexual habits, and weight struggle. These are all part of the story, but are often presented slyly such as his frequent comments on Jack’s enchilada habit. The book does share some positive scenes on his life as an actor, and makes a point of explaining his Method. There are, however, arid sequences of the ins and outs of movie deals which are more of a litany of each step in framing a movie contract. On the other hand, I did find the back accounts of his movies fascinating and did in fact dig a few out of Netflix to watch them with newer eyes. “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” particularly benefits from this added dimension.Anjelica Houston is given a star role as the dominant support in his life. One can see why he returns to her over and over, but the mystery is why she did. In addition, I miss the lack of depth in the description of his male relationships. To me, the parting shot of the book left me slack jawed. It is a true incident from the recent Oscar awards, but I found it gratuitously nasty, and truly questionable as a closing paragraph. Did Eliot write the whole book with this closing in mind? I cannot be sure.

⭐This is a good book about a symbol of the 60’s hippie generation. If any performer embodied this era it is Jack Nicholson. His “give me a puff of that before you throw it away” demeanor captured the youth attitude of his time.But I think these men would be better served by having their life stories written posthumously. Almost everyone of them appear to suffer from a severe Peter Pan complex and their massive egos (and various hangers on) convince them that they will be catnip to women forever. Rather than stardom looking like a good deal, these guys make it look like a one way ticket to LONELY. Nicholson is presented in all of his honesty and strong convictions until the women in his life are discussed. Initially he is a late bloomer who quickly becomes an adept womanizer but he gradually morphs into this sad over the hill lothario. Jennifer Lawrence’s smack down was a poetic way to end what I found to be a sad story.

⭐Jack was deceived about his parentage until he was over 25 years old. I had to wonder what effect this had on his adult relationships. His exceptional talent made him a sure thing; but luck and timing played their part. I watched him in “Batman ” the other day onTV and he was truly bigger than life, diabolical, and always doing the unexpected. Creepy, scary.Its nice to know that he has children in his life; its not all about him. He took that leap like his contemporaries : Diane Keaton, Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro, and Warren Beatty. He showed his magnanimous self in his difficult dealings withthe actress Susan Anspach. Nice to know that he helped their son Caleb after many years of no contact. He shows up for his kids. I think that speaks volumes about him.

⭐This book may basically cover Nicholson’s life, but what I dislike was how the author wrote very little about certain films (The Witches of Eastwick; Mars Attacks; Batman- not even half a page; The Witches of Eastwick) while going more into the gossipy details of his life (which he figures people would want to know more of) as well as more mainstream films such as Terms of Endearment.

⭐I was so looking forward to reading about the man behind the headlines, a cinematic legend, but found myself sorely disappointed with this book. It is a glorified “filmography” and talks at length about the producers and directors of his films. The research is basic – I could have written this book by reading DVD covers, watching press junkets and cutting and pasting snippets from other people’s books. There are no in depth interviews, giving insights into the genius of Nicholson, nor is anything told of his life outside films. Relationships outside of the film industry are merely referred to, and his children get scant mention (amazingly the writer even gets the name of his eldest daughters mother wrong p279), and don’t get me started on typo’s and spelling mistakes……………..if you want a biography on Jack Nicholson choose another book, and let me know what it’s like! I gave it 2 stars instead of 1 because I still adore Jack Nicholson and his films.

⭐Very good book

⭐I bought this as a present – recommend it to any Jack Nicholson fans. Great insight in to his life.

⭐Although informative it was boring to read. i think jack Nicholson is a wonderful actor but something was missing from the way the material was presented.

⭐Great book, funny.Fast delivery, well packed

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